The state of transcontinental fascism: Reichsbürger, power stations, and Trump calls to end the Constitution

I want to call attention to two articles each from Annika Brockschmidt and David Neiwert on far-right developments in Germany and the US. As much as the New Cold Warriors would like to blame Vladimir Putin and Russia for anything and everything bad that happens in politics, these are about homegrown problems - which is not to say that Putin or admirers of his brand of politics are unhappy to see them.

The "Reichsbürger" conspirators and the "sovereign citizens" fanatics

German historian and political analyst Annika Brockschmidt has a long piece explaining the arrest this week of a group of far-right extremists who are part of the "Reichsbürger" scene: Just Like January 6, One of the Most Disturbing Aspects of the Right Wing Coup Attempt in German Is Who Was Behind It Religion Dispatches 12/09/2022.

She mentions a couple of things that were new to me. One is the "Nuremberg 2.0" theme, which involves a convoluted notion that the nation of Germany doesn't really exist. (Guess who they claim is "really" in control.) She writes:

’Nuremberg 2.0’ has become a popular cipher during the pandemic amongst Covid-deniers, who use it to both relativize the Holocaust and threaten their perceived enemies—doctors, politicians, public health officials, hospital staff, and journalists.

Referring to the suspected far-right conspirators arrested in Germany this week, she observes:

In addition to having an insider, the group has, according to investigators, strong ties to the “Reichsbürger” movement, a German version of the “sovereign citizens’ movement.” Both movements refuse to pay taxes or accept government authority, and have demonstrated a willingness to use violent force, as well as the belief in conspiracy theories. Reichsbürger believe that Germany, rather than being an independent country, is actually still governed by the United States; that it’s not a country but a company (I won’t go into the absolutely unhinged “reasoning” behind this claim).

In short: They wanted to overthrow our current government and establish a new “Reich.” The terror group apparently also wanted to renegotiate Germany’s post-World War II settlement. The suspects are connected to conspiracy theories of the QAnon-kind—once again proving that right-wing radicalization is a global phenomenon with little respect for borders. Two other suspects were arrested in Kitzbühel, Austria, and Perugia, Italy.

The Reichsbürger types indulge in the kind of convoluted, mind-bending redefinitions are a a typical feature of this scene. She quotes an analysis from the think tank CeMAS describing the ideology of a German sovereign-citizens-type website: "According to them, Germany is a ‘fascist colony,’ that needs to be de-nazified by Russia on the basis of national socialist [i.e., Nazi] laws, in order to answer the ‘German question’ and to re-establish a ‘German homeland.’"

In other words, they want Russia to take over Germany and govern with Nazi laws in order de-Nazify the current German government, which is a fascist regime run by the Rothschilds. Anyone who thinks that makes any kind of actual sense will be thrilled to hear Alex Jones' revelations about "crisis actors" and human/space-alien hybrids running around. But Annika also quotes Pia Lamberty of the same think tank warning, "Especially when a conspiracy narrative is central to an ideology, people often wave it off as ‘crazy’ instead of taking the dangers that emanate from these ideologies seriously."

She also refers to what the blind-in-the-right-eye problems that law-enforcement often has in dealing with violent, far-right antidemocracy groups:

"The conservative Minister of the interior of the previous Merkel administration, Horst Seehofer, had always refused to conduct a study of right-wing sentiments in the police and military, in spite of the warnings of social scientists who urged him to commission one. For years, Seehofer claimed falsely that there was no 'structural problem' regarding right-wing elements within law enforcement, although the 'isolated instances' kept mounting."

Dave Neiwert also gives a run-down of the Reichsbürger busts in German authorities arrest dozens of far-right extremists who plotted to overthrow government Daily Kos 12/09/2022:

The suspects are all members of the so-called Reichsbürger movement, a German version of the far-right sovereign-citizens movement that claims the existing government is illegitimate and that ordinary people can declare themselves free of its jurisdiction. Authorities said that 25 people have been arrested so far, but there are warrants for at least 50 participants in 11 states in the conspiracy.

The far-right terrorists, according to authorities, planned to eliminate Germany's basic democratic order "using violence and military means," including plans to "forcefully invade the Bundestag," the German parliamentary building. A "council" comprised of Reichsbürger movement followers was to take over government business, while a "military arm" was to set up a "new German army" and "homeland security companies."

That echoes the far-right chatter around the time of the Jan. 6 insurrection: “The storming of a parliament by protesters as the initiation of a revolution can work,” Jürgen Elsässer, editor/publisher of the far-right magazine Compact, wrote the day after the Capitol siege. “But a revolution can only be successful if it is organized.”

Trump called to suspend the Constitution - and the silence from the Republicans is deafening Annika also reports on the reaction, or lack thereof, from most Republicans to Trump's open call to suspend the Constitution, a clear justification for a Carl-Schmidt-type state-of-emergency rule - although the chance that Trump knows who Carl Schmidt was is infinitely close to zero: Despite Reports, GOP Has Not 'Turned on Trump' for Call to Terminate the Constitution - Fascism Isn't a Dealbreaker for Today's GOP Religion Dispatches 12/07/2022:

Trump’s open embrace of fascism and antisemitism has been mainstreamed on the American Right. So even if Trump were to be ousted from the movement because Republicans finally decided that he’s no longer useful, the fascist and antisemitic tendencies in their politics would remain—their lies about a secret cabal that “indoctrinates” children, sexualizes and molests them; about “coastal elites” who suppress free speech of “real” (meaning White, conservative, Christian) Americans; and the moral panic over LGBTQ, especially trans, people and Critical Race Theory all harken back to versions of the antisemitic conspiracy theory of Cultural Marxism which has a long tradition amongst the Christian Right. ...

As long as Republicans don’t step back from these harmful, antisemitic narratives, it doesn’t even matter if they condemn individual acts of political violence or antisemitism—because they’re signalling to their supporters that they’re still on board with the hateful message that unites them: That the US belongs to a certain kind of people; that “the Left” is a deeply un-American force that must not simply be beaten in an election, but destroyed and eviscerated; and that everyone whose existence is an affront to White Christian heterosexual conservatives must be purged from public civic life.

Ideologically, however, there’s no off-ramp, no way to moderate, because it’s antithetical to the tale American conservatives have spun for decades—according to these stories, nothing less than the fate of civilization hangs in the balance.

Finally, Dave Neiwert takes a look at recent attacks on local power grids in the US: Gunfire attacks on power substations have been happening in other regions besides Moore County Daily Kos 12/10/2022:

Utilities around the nation, ranging from the Pacific Northwest to Florida, are reporting a recent uptick in similar gunfire attacks on power substations—all of them in many ways embodying the spread of online extremist content promoting such terrorist attacks and explaining how to carry them out.

And he discusses the popularity of talk about such attacks among far-right groups:

While some of these incidents may turn out to have non-political (and thus non-terroristic) motivations, the DHS’s [Department of Homeland Security] January memo warning of attacks like these as likely terrorism events was well-grounded. It indicated that conversations among far-right extremists online have increasingly focused on encouraging so-called “lone wolf” attacks involving only a single terrorist. Other online chatter includes efforts to inspire people with minimal training to also target electrical infrastructure, with weapons ranging from improvised incendiary devices, hammers, power saws, and guns.

Electrical infrastructure has become a key target for the most recent iterations of accelerationist neofascist groups like The Base and Atomwaffen SS. One such terrorist cell that targeted the January 2020 pro-gun protests in Richmond, Virginia, discussed targeting the power grid and cell towers in the area to debilitate any police response while disguised as both left-wing activists and as “3 Percent” militiamen, believing it would direct violence towards the groups blamed for the destruction.

But whoever turns out to be behind them, there clearly has been a number of such incidents in 2022.